Taj Vivanta is known to be one of the better resorts in Maldives with respect to human resources effort as well as fair service charge distribution. The island is very small, close to Male’ the capital island and transport to and from the island to Male’ is via speedboat and quite easy.
Big tidal waves are pounding the country and there are reports of considerable damage in northern atolls. Its not unusual for tidal waves to show some ‘muscle’ once every year, however this year the show of strength seems to be stronger. The weather forecasters predict 3 days of rough weather before the systems calm down.
Most resorts do have a fire prevention policy sometimes existing only in paper. The intention of course is to have a ready and effective fire combat team to face an eventuality of fire. However, different resorts go about the business of implementing the fire prevention issue in different ways. Whilst some resorts keep a dedicated trained force which do fire drills weekly (with incentives paid), others rely on the sure knowledge of loyalty of the staff to attend to such an eventuality. Well-oiled, clock-work like managements such as in Four Seasons do pay incentives to staff for voluntarily joining the fire brigade. Whatever the methodology of individual resorts, prevention is always better than cure. A little bit of incentive per month per staff to have a dedicated ready fire fighting force will return its worth once a fire action breaks out. Relying on mother nature, the goodwill of staff and complacency is a sure risky way of going about this issue.
Most of our resorts being roofed with easily flammable construction material such as coconut leaves and dry timber, exposed and frequently in contact with unreliable electrification processes have ideal conditions for such events which has happened numerous times in resorts. But the lessons of the events needless to say goes mostly unlearned.
This time its the opposition political parties who are trying to spread fear, capitalizing on the political climate of the country and trying to destabilize the economy. The government’s inability to market their reform agenda is being exploited by the power hungry opposition which is claiming amongst many other things, that there has been travel warnings issued against the country by Britain. Nothing can be further from truth. Here is the exact wording of the travel advice issued by British Foreign and commonwealth office:
“Following a period of political unrest within the Maldivian Parliament (Majlis), there have been a number of political protests and demonstrations in Malé, predominately outside Government buildings and political figures’ residences. Social unrest is possible and there is a risk demonstrations might become violent. You should exercise caution and avoid any large political gatherings.”
This is no travel warning, its common sense and it applies well to locals as well as to British nationals to avoid large gatherings.
The US State Department also keeps a list of countries where their citizens are warned not to go. The list is here: and its doesn’t mention Maldives anywhere.
Haiti 06/24/2010
Israel, the West Bank and Gaza 06/20/2010
Guinea 06/16/2010
Nepal 06/15/2010
Nigeria 06/15/2010
Afghanistan 05/25/2010
Burundi 05/19/2010
Cote d’Ivoire 05/12/2010
Niger 05/11/2010
Mexico 05/06/2010
Georgia 05/03/2010
Congo, Democratic Republic of the 04/21/2010
Philippines 04/02/2010
Algeria 04/02/2010
Lebanon 03/29/2010
Iran 03/23/2010
Kenya 03/16/2010
Colombia 03/05/2010
Eritrea 03/02/2010
Central African Republic 02/26/2010
Yemen 02/25/2010
Iraq 02/25/2010
Saudi Arabia 02/18/2010
Pakistan 01/07/2010
Sudan 12/31/2009
Somalia 12/31/2009
Mauritania 12/02/2009
Chad 11/23/2009
Mali 11/19/2009
Uzbekistan 06/16/2009
However the extensive use of media to propagate these sorts of lies and fear propaganda will ultimately have its effect and the authorities are well advised to finish off this issue with incarcerating the local mafia bosses on whose behalf the opposition politics is advocating. The naivety of the government in allowing these corrupt Mafiosos has had its effect and much blood was shed in this small city of Male’ just because they exploited the liberal policies of the government for their own advantage. The government’s hand is in fact bound by its own liberal polices and sweet talk of democracy and values but where there is a need to show force it shall be used. As for the incarcerated mafioso’s, its common knowledge in Maldives for over a decade that Yameen is the acknowledged boss of local Mafia in Maldives.
At last the authorities are finally catching up on the sources of high stakes criminality by imprisoning three important figures who are frequently associated with corruption. Although the authorities are lagging in its media presence (reporting on the issue), the actions the authorities are taking now is long overdue and much to their credit. Being liberal has also its limits and being too liberal may have been the reason why criminality flourished unchecked for so long in high public places. With the detention and investigation of these figures, it remains to be seen how much of a strong case of corruption can the authorities make on these figures and hopefully remove them from public offices.
The fact that these three figures used money to buy their way through to public offices is evident even from the fact that their party (PA) has 7 members in the Majlis, whilst the membership of that party has not reached 3000, compared to other established parties like IDP and Adhaalath who failed to get even one seat in the Majlis despite their considerable membership.
The issue is not all about politics, its about criminals using the cover of public offices to hide their trades which nobody believes in.
A damning report has appeared in Muraasil condemning Centara Grand Resort for marginalizing locals on employment, claiming that the resort employs only 67 locals out of 260. The report lists the full employee listing of the resort which appears to confirm the fact that the resort employs little over 26% locals as compared to 74% expats. The situation of employing more expatriates than locals has been a constant criticism levied at resorts by island communities, as the communities struggle with mass unemployment whilst in their mids 5 star resort properties spring up but still does little to employ locals, even eligible ones.
From an economic standpoint the situation of allowing resorts to prefer expatriates to over locals does make little sense here in Maldives, because the social instability is quite linked to unemployment and poverty which is fueling the cycle. However the under the influence of business leaders and resort owners, former government has allowed provisions in the directives on human resources to allow resorts to keep a ratio of 75% expatriates against locals were the later were said not to have been available. However implementation of these directives is flawed as there are no robust means to check and balance the situation in resorts with a toothless labour ministry embroiled in an all out war with opposition parliamentarians who are threatening his job.
The full leaked employee listing of Centara Grand as appears in Muraasil is:
EMP NO NAME DOJ MALDIVIAN FOREINER
CIRM 0254 John Dimon Bendtsen 15 January 2010 F
CIRM 0002 Pannathorn Nampee 27 January 2009 F
CIRM 0013 Prapaijit Thongma 02 July 2009 F
CIRM 0012 Mohamed Shahid 01 July 2009 M
CIRM 0285 Chatree Jaithamjaroenporn 15 February 2010 F
CIRM 0054 Silvia Collepardi 13 October 2009 F
Total 1 5
Engineering
CIRM 0006 Jerome Manuel 01 December 2008 F
CIRM 0007 Shantha Delawella 01 February 2009 F
CIRM 0314 Nadeeka Withanachchi 18 April 2010 F
CIRM 0324 Hassan Ali 05 May 2010 M
CIRM 0196 Hassan Zareer 06 October 2009 M
CIRM 0089 Claude G W Manuel 18 October 2009 F
CIRM 0056 Kanishka P.B Jayathilaka 01 September 2009 F
CIRM 0090 Malagoda Gamage Mahinda J 18 October 2009 F
CIRM 0057 Wickrama R Wasantha Kumara 26 September 2009 F
CIRM 0107 Rajitha Maura Nuwan Kumara 22 October 2009 F
CIRM 0186 Wathudurage Lalith 15 November 2009 F
CIRM 0213 Sahadath Rozimudeen 01 November 2009 F
CIRM 0199 Achchaylal Prasad 01 November 2009 F
CIRM 0200 Mohamed Moshin Miah 01 November 2009 F
CIRM 0198 Mohamed Atiqur 01 November 2009 F
CIRM 0253 Aynal Haque 01 January 2010 F
CIRM 0205 Kamal Asoka 01 November 2009 F
CIRM 0206 Mohamed Mohuddin 01 November 2009 F
CIRM 0211 Aiyez Suttradhan 01 November 2009 F
CIRM 0208 Basar 01 November 2009 F
CIRM 0207 Amzat Hossain 01 November 2009 F
CIRM 0210 MD Abdul Zollil Mia 01 November 2009 F
CIRM 0257 Mojibur Rahman 01 December 2009 F
CIRM 0281 P.M.K.Anil Rohana 15 February 2010 F
CIRM 0290 L S Upashantha De Silva 28 February 2010 F
CIRM 0214 Shahidul Islam 01 November 2009 F
CIRM 0258 Badsha 01 December 2009 F
Casual Jahirul F
Casual Jamal F
Casual Bahar F
Total 2 28
Food & Beverage Kitchen
CIRM 0003 Alisdair Bletcher 01 February 2009 F
CIRM 0018 Luis Rodrigo Zamora 13 August 2009 F
CIRM 0217 Mohan CN 25 November 2009 F
CIRM 0168 RMSK. Ranaweera 15 October 2009 F
CIRM 0108 Rachmat Darajat 23 October 2009 F
CIRM 0177 Ajay Panwar 10 November 2009 F
CIRM 0245 Menuwara A Indika Menuwara 30 December 2009 F
CIRM 0105 KG Sanjaya Priyadarshana 22 October 2009 F
CIRM 0232 Bantwal Moidin 04 December 2009 F
CIRM 0187 Mohamed Mannan Mehedi 14 November 2009 F
CIRM 0139 Mohottige Chaminda Tusitha Kumara 30 October 2009 F
CIRM 0146 Buban Chandra Rajbangsay 01 November 2009 F
CIRM 0150 Jeyakumar Vasagar 01 November 2009 F
CIRM 0064 Sanat Chitrakar 15 October 2009 F
CIRM 0136 K.K Lal Priyantha 15 October 2009 F
CIRM 0138 Sanjoy Gomes 25 October 2009 F
CIRM 0165 Joshi George 04 November 2009 F
CIRM 0164 Mareeswaran 04 November 2009 F
CIRM 0142 Priyolal Halder 29 October 2009 F
CIRM 0143 Ajoy Gomes 02 November 2009 F
CIRM 0140 NW Manoj Lasantha Gunawardana 30 October 2009 F
CIRM 0060 Ben Ame F.Fabro 14 October 2009 F
CIRM 0095 Lokesh Babu 19 October 2009 F
CIRM 0113 I Nyoman Riatita 23 October 2009 F
CIRM 0329 Sutrisno Nuansa 19 May 2010 F
CIRM 0137 Periakaruppan R 25 October 2009 F
CIRM 0326 Ravula Ajay 19 May 2010 F
CIRM 0244 Jayasinghe Arachchilage Ranil 26 December 2009 F
CIRM 0151 Liton 01 November 2009 F
CIRM 0059 Ayyoub Salameh 14 October 2009 F
CIRM 0181 Jayesh Premanand Karekar 12 November 2009 F
CIRM 0255 A.M.R.A.Mahesh Lashan 16 January 2010 F
CIRM 0166 Chiran Thapa 04 November 2009 F
CIRM 0169 Chaminda Ruwan Kumara 04 November 2009 F
CIRM 0275 Prasath Navaratnarajah 28 January 2010 F
CIRM 0225 Thanida Amornvatin 29 November 2009 F
CIRM 0291 La-Ong Sangvongsa 28 February 2010 F
CIRM 0227 Saowalak Thaweekan 29 November 2009 F
CIRM 0226 Saksit Charee 29 November 2009 F
CIRM 0020 Prakash Kundur 17 August 2009 F
CIRM 0019 Rajesh Kannan 15 August 2009 F
Avnir 03 June 2010 F
CIRM 0276 KG Chinthaka Pradeep Sumanasiri 02 February 2010 F
CIRM 0212 Mohamed Shabir 01 November 2009 F
CIRM 0147 Prabhu Rajan Ganesan 01 November 2009 F
CIRM 0148 Vadivel Rengaraj 01 November 2009 F
CIRM 0149 Uttam Mondal 01 November 2009 F
CIRM 0197 sohel 01 November 2009 F
CIRM 0023 Navaneetha Krishnan 31 August 2009 F
CIRM 0061 Koralage Chaminda Sisira Kumara 15 October 2009 F
CIRM 0052 Rajesh Kumar 27 September 2009 F
CIRM 0264 Pugalla A Chaminda Dayarathna 15 October 2009 F
CIRM 0063 Samaraweera Arachilage 15 October 2009 F
CIRM 0265 Mohamed Sabri Mohamed Deen 23 October 2009 F
CIRM 0144 Jahangir Miah 01 November 2009 F
CIRM 0145 Mohd Ripon Ali 01 November 2009 F
CIRM 0152 Sumon Laskar 01 November 2009 F
CIRM 0161 Syed Noorul Sultan 01 November 2009 F
CIRM 0183 Satar Aijul 11 November 2009 F
CIRM 0202 Mohamed Hasan 01 November 2009 F
CIRM 0203 Jamal Hossan 01 November 2009 F
Casual Bilal F
Casual Yousuf F
Casual Mohamed khokal F
Total 0 64
Food & Beverage Services
CIRM 0015 Salim Abdool Cadder 30 July 2009 F
CIRM 0049 Kalaivanthan Muniandy 10 October 2009 F
CIRM 0067 Moosa Anwar 15 October 2009 M
CIRM 0099 Abdulla Shukuree 20 October 2009 M
CIRM 0101 Ibrahim Mohamed 20 October 2009 M
CIRM 0102 Shiraz Shareef 20 October 2009 M
CIRM 0104 Rommel Garcia Barin 20 October 2009 F
CIRM 0109 K Mudiyanselage Susantha 23 October 2009 F
CIRM 0110 Hussain Faheem Ahmed 23 October 2009 M
CIRM 0112 Ahmed Solih 24 October 2009 M
CIRM 0116 Mohamed Nasheed Ibrahim 25 October 2009 M
CIRM 0117 Ibrahim Shameem Ahmed 25 October 2009 M
CIRM 0119 Mohamed Nazim 25 October 2009 M
CIRM 0121 Ahmed Husnee 25 October 2009 M
CIRM 0129 Marvelous Q.Camangon 28 October 2009 F
CIRM 0130 Eris 31 October 2009 F
CIRM 0131 Andri Mulyadi 31 October 2009 F
CIRM 0133 Hussain Fayaz 30 October 2009 M
CIRM 0266 Ruth A. Calma 01 November 2009 F
CIRM 0163 Shimol Debanath 04 November 2009 F
CIRM 0175 Grace Lee Siew Fun 13 November 2009 F
CIRM 0176 Damera Vikram 11 November 2009 F
CIRM 0180 Mohamed Salim Ullah 11 November 2009 F
CIRM 0184 Nenjahat Haokip 13 November 2009 F
CIRM 0188 Sinta Kartika 17 November 2009 F
CIRM 0189 Y.M.W.Roshan Udurawana 17 November 2009 F
CIRM 0190 A.M.P Supun Alahakoon 17 November 2009 F
CIRM 0193 Mohamed Waheed 20 November 2009 M
CIRM 0218 MD Badiur Rahman Mollah 25 November 2009 F
CIRM 0216 Ernielou Christine P.Salcedo 25 November 2009 F
CIRM 0221 Lao Marlinda Lawrence 30 November 2009 F
CIRM 0222 Ni Putu Eka Susanti 30 November 2009 F
CIRM 0237 Jo Ann Zaballero Ordeneza 17 December 2009 F
CIRM 0274 KD Daminda Ruwan Kumara 29 January 2010 F
CIRM 0058 Emily Hopper 14 October 2009 F
CIRM 0282 Weldy Reviady 15 February 2010 F
CIRM 0287 Mahendra Kumar Moktan 23 February 2010 F
CIRM 0288 Clement Curt Perera 23 February 2010 F
CIRM 0289 Benjie Russell R.Villamejor 23 February 2010 F
CIRM 0292 Ibrahim Mohamed 07 March 2010 M
CIRM 0293 Munawwar Ibrahim 13 March 2010 M
CIRM 0294 Qais Abdul Qadir 15 March 2010 F
CIRM 0295 Saudhullah Ahmed 15 March 2010 M
CIRM 0291 Mohamed Ahmed 20 March 2010 M
CIRM 0298 Roma Flor Buenaobra 20 March 2010 F
CIRM 0299 H.Priyangalakmal Perera 19 March 2010 F
CIRM 0305 Ahmed Ali 04 April 2010 M
CIRM 0306 Jadulla Ali 04 April 2010 M
CIRM 0307 Mohamed Junaid 04 April 2010 M
CIRM 0082 Amal Debnath 15 October 2009 F
CIRM 0317 Ahmed Fahudh 18 April 2010 M
CIRM 0320 Mayur D.Gawli 25 April 2010 F
CIRM 0318 Ma Zaung Nyoi 22 April 2010 F
CIRM 0100 Ali Mohamed Didi 20 October 2009 M
CIRM 0330 Anthony Jeewan 21 May 2010 F
CIRM 0328 Surya Kanwar 19 May 2010 F
Total 21 35
Finance
CIRM 0005 Durga Prasad Pattanaik 01 December 2008 F
CIRM 0017 Punnada Thongjeen 01 August 2009 F
CIRM 0238 DM Sarath Bandara 24 December 2009 F
CIRM 0027 Ahmed Mushthaq 15 September 2009 M
CIRM 0037 Ashok Kumar Swain 01 October 2009 F
CIRM 0241 Handunnetti Palinda Gangadara 25 December 2009 F
CIRM 0039 Narayanan Sathish Kumar 01 October 2009 F
CIRM 0045 Mathew Varghese 07 October 2009 F
CIRM 0240 Naveen Kumar Reddy Billa 01 December 2009 F
CIRM 0229 Ahmed Mohamed 02 December 2009 M
CIRM 0323 A.R.G.K.Kularatne 28 April 2010 F
Total 2 9
Front Office
CIRM 0014 Chaichan Chaida 02 July 2009 F
CIRM 0300 Siriwan Sitayotin 21 March 2010 F
CIRM 0024 Abdullah Hassaan Shareef 09 September 2009 M
CIRM 0047 Ahmed Ali 10 October 2009 M
CIRM 0092 Amy Ho Ming Yen 18 October 2009 F
CIRM 0053 Marlene Simon 13 October 2009 F
CIRM 0066 Mohamed Nadeem 15 October 2009 M
CIRM 0094 Mohamed Ahmed Didi ( MAX) 19 October 2009 M
CIRM 0106 Haruka Taniguchi 22 October 2009 F
CIRM 0122 Noara Ibrahim 25 October 2009 M
CIRM 0029 Mariyam Hana 22 September 2009 M
CIRM 0134 Anushka Krishani Wattage 26 October 2009 F
CIRM 0220 Omar Faruk 26 November 2009 F
CIRM 0230 Hussein Solih 03 December 2009 M
CIRM 0235 Annie David Kalaparambath 13 December 2009 F
CIRM 0256 Susann Seifert 31 January 2010 F
CIRM 0273 Hussain Musthafa Hassan 29 January 2010 M
CIRM 0286 Aishath Nasheedha 22 February 2010 M
CIRM 0302 Mohamed Nasheed Ibrahim 31 March 2010 M
CIRM 0316 Hussain Haroon 19 April 2010 M
CIRM 0096 Ahmed Azim 20 October 2009 M
CIRM0234 Gamlakshage Damantha 13 December 2009 F
Total 12 10
Housekeeping
CIRM 0325 Ramil Millamina Lagos 04 May 2010 F
CIRM 0167 Ahmed Shujau 31 October 2009 M
CIRM 0033 Hassan Latheef 01 October 2009 M
CIRM 0260 Bellanage Chaminda Indika Fernando 25 January 2010 F
CIRM 0034 Ali Naseer Moosa 01 October 2009 M
CIRM 0035 Shamrath Usmaan 01 October 2009 M
CIRM 0036 Hussain Rasheed 01 October 2009 M
CIRM 0028 Namdev 15 September 2009 F
CIRM 0083 Ibrahim Rasheed 15 October 2009 M
CIRM 0084 Mohammed Jahir 15 October 2009 F
CIRM 0085 Siyah Zahir 15 October 2009 M
CIRM 0111 Ahmed Jamsheed 23 October 2009 M
CIRM 0155 Ahmed Zareer 01 November 2009 M
CIRM 0156 Mohamed Siraj 01 November 2009 M
CIRM 0157 Saiful Islam 01 November 2009 F
CIRM 0158 Nurul Islam 01 November 2009 F
CIRM 0159 MD Jomshid Mia 01 November 2009 F
CIRM 0160 Amanulla 01 November 2009 F
CIRM 0191 Hussain Shareef 20 November 2009 M
CIRM 0270 Ahmed Sujau 27 January 2010 M
CIRM 0271 Mohamed Ibrahim 28 January 2010 M
CIRM 0296 Muaz Muhammadh 16 March 2010 M
CIRM 0309 Ahmed Mazahim 06 April 2010 M
CIRM 0303 Ahmed Asim 31 March 2010 M
CIRM 0311 Ahmed Umshad 10 April 2010 M
CIRM 0312 Hassan Waheed 10 April 2010 M
CIRM 0313 Sanaullah 10 April 2010 F
CIRM 0322 Naushad Ibrahim 24 April 2010 M
CIRM 0032 Kulasiri A.Gamage 26 September 2009 F
CIRM 0262 Azgar Ali 15 October 2009 F
CIRM 0087 Ruhul Amin 15 October 2009 F
CIRM 0088 Abdul Mobin 15 October 2009 F
CIRM 0103 Gina Fe Cunanan Barin 20 October 2009 F
CIRM 0331 Zahirul 21 May 2010 F
Total 19 15
SPA
CIRM 0022 Anunya Kumnerdthanaporn 01 October 2009 F
CIRM 0301 Sawwitree Nuan 28 March 2010 F
CIRM 0073 Daranee Kinglek 15 October 2009 F
CIRM 0075 Kedsara Rungmaneetum 15 October 2009 F
CIRM 0076 Ni Kadek Rustini 15 October 2009 F
CIRM 0236 Ni Ketut Warni 22 December 2009 F
CIRM 0078 Panida Intaraksa 15 October 2009 F
CIRM 0079 Panca Yuda Artiningsih 15 October 2009 F
CIRM 0080 Ubon Phimson 15 October 2009 F
CIRM 0081 Sangla Tuansanite 15 October 2009 F
CIRM 0263 Uthai-thip Morayan 15 October 2009 F
CIRM 0153 Kadek Kusuma Dewi 29 October 2009 F
CIRM 0315 Itthiphon Phonyiam 20 April 2010 F
Total 0 13
Security & Transport
CIRM 0026 Gopi Thappa 12 September 2009 F
CIRM 0123 Bharat Bahadur Khadka 25 October 2009 F
CIRM 0124 Uttar Kumar Waiba 25 October 2009 F
CIRM 0194 Maheshwor Paudel 20 November 2009 F
CIRM 0243 Narayan Bahadur Thakuri 22 December 2009 F
CIRM 0250 Arjun Thapa 04 January 2010 F
CIRM 0071 Ahmed Imad 15 October 2009 M
CIRM 0055 Ahmed Waheed 13 October 2009 M
CIRM 0259 Ahmed Ibrahim 24 January 2010 M
CIRM 0261 Ahmed Anees 26 January 2010 M
CIRM 0268 Ali Adam 17 October 2009 M
CIRM 0272 Mohamed Ahmed 29 January 2010 M
CIRM 0319 Hussain Mohamed 22 April 2010 M
Total 7 6
Human Resources
CIRM 0277 Ahmed Nizam 04 February 2010 M
CIRM 0031 Aditya Dilip LAD 26 September 2009 F
CIRM 0278 Shannon Frances Jenkinson 01 February 2010 F
CIRM 0333 Dr Shankar 03 November 2009 F
CIRM 0125 Manoj Bhusel 15 October 2009 F
CIRM 0070 Masud Ali 15 October 2009 F
CIRM 0182 Shaporan 15 October 2009 F
CIRM 0201 Kalu Sing Syangtan 01 November 2009 F
Total 1 7
Male Office
CIRM 0004 Mohamed Didi 01 February 2009 M
CIRM 0283 Ibrahim Waheed 01 February 2010 M
CIRM 0284 Kamarul Hassan 01 February 2010 F
Total 2 1
Total Maldivians 67
Total Foreiners 193
Total Staff 260
Total Maldivians % 25.76923077
Total Foreiners % 74.23076923
Note: “M” Is Maldivian
There are basically two ways employers adopt when fixing the salaries of employees at the time of hire. The first way is to have a fixed list of pay per position and have the prospective employee assent to that figure at the time of signing of contract. The second way is to have the list in handy and bargain with the prospective candidate as to what he expects from his job based on his qualification, experience and bargaining skills. . This last method seems to be much more popular with foreign managements and it makes perfect bussiness sense. Instead of painting all in the same brush, it helps to have the employees upfront about their rights and expectations from the very beginning. However, reading through the relevant clauses of the labour law, if two employees are are in the same rank and yet both of them receive unequal pay then it falls under the clause of discrimination which is prohibited.
Here is the relevant subsection of the clause:
“4. a) It is prohibited to discriminate amongst persons carrying out equal work
either in the granting of employment, determination of remuneration,
increase in remuneration, provision of training, determination of conditions
and manner of employment, dismissal from employment or resolution of
other employment related matters, based on race, colour, social standing,
religion, political beliefs or affiliation with any political party, sex, marital
status, family obligations, and in so far as it does not contravene the
provisions herein age or disability.”
However subsection “c” of clause 4 gives employers a way out of this binding which is quite funny and descriptive of how lawmakers always make deliberate holes in the legislation to allow for escape routes!
The relevant subsection of the clause is:
“c) Sub‐section (a) does not prevent the taking into consideration of matters
such as educational qualifications required for employment, aptitude,
experience and such other matters directly related to employment.
”
Another important but often overlooked provision in the law is the subsection “e” which is lost on employers most of the time. However its an important provision which is designed to help unemployment and preferring national interest over others.
The relevant subsection of the clause is:
“e) Any preference given to Maldivians by an employer in granting employment
shall not be deemed discrimination as provided herein.
”
So there shall be no discrimination of pay among workers of equal rank and if there were to be a discrimination it could be based on education, experience and and such other matters directly related to employment (which gives the game away..
.). And if there were to be a discrimination it could only be in favour of Maldivians because the law is explicit on this.
The government is pressed to cut costs agreed with world lenders such as World Bank and IMF, and cost cutting was one of the major changes the current government brought when it assumed power. However old habits die hard. The fact that the government and its related institutions are still buying overpriced popular softwares from Microsoft is evidence that the cost cutting measures haven’t been pursued far enough. On average the offices of the local government and its computerized works does not go beyond word-processing and spreadsheets, which can easily be accommodated by other free Operating systems like Ubuntu Linux.
The fact that retraining employees to a new OS will take time and effort is true, however the average overall office use of the OS is not likely to go beyond a few functions such as word processing and spreadsheets which is only a fraction of the capabilities of an OS. So if there was a need to retrain, it could be limited to what the employees are expected to work with in the OS. 
Another development which will add substantial expenses to the government is the proposed copyrights bill which the “Ministry of Economics” erroneously believes will benefit the country. This erroneous belief is based on the belief that there is growing substantial IT sector (& a ‘film industry”) which is supposed to be protected from piracy. However the reality of the situation is that we do not have an IT industry in Maldives yet. We do not have enough online connectivity thanks to the still high rates charged by the ISPs and most of our IT experts are expatriates from India and Sri Lanka and they are certainly not clamoring for copyright bills. As for our ‘fim-industry’ (LOL), one could be forgiven for a laugh… our film industry (if that is the right term) is simply not a film industry. Its a half hearted attempt by some brave souls just to attempt to bring a few smiles and laughs to the country which is made larger than life by the small media we have.
Summing up; the copyrights bill currently in the People’s Majlis (or is it?) if it ever is debated on is likely to be passed and as a result the country will be poorer than as it is. Our parliamentarians (most of them any ways…) are simply not capable of understanding the implications of what they are going to debate and they will end up making Bil Gates a few thousands of dollars richer than already he is at the expense of the our countrymen.
some Anti-copyright arguments from wikipedia:
As a general rule, there are two ways to construct staff buildings in resorts. The first and the mostly followed rule is just to construct a shed like structure which can house any form of living thing, be it cattle or human beings. The structure is designed with only one consideration in the mind, which is lessening the cost of the building and nothing else. The second way is to understand staff as an investment and design accommodation buildings accordingly. The second way is enthusiastically being taken up by new resorts by top brands such as Six senses Laamu which will be opening their first affordable resort for down market come next on-season which will start about October 2010. Resort islands being severely limited in land area, needs to come up with innovative approaches to tackle the issue of accommodation and one such innovative idea is to construct more floors per building than just constructing a one storied shed. With proper landscaping a 2 or 3 floor building can be concealed so as not to impose on the scenery of the island.
Some pics of staff accommodations being constructed in some new resorts
Its not uncommon for hotel managers and department heads to lecture the line staff about paying attention to detail and generally how to do things this way and that way. The reason of course is things are generally easier said than done.
Its also the case that whenever the “line staff” pays sufficient attention to detail, the all so common issues of budget comes in between and frequently the staff would be asked to do anything else other than paying attention to whatever he was paying attention to in the first place. Sometimes keeping to a fixed immovable budget is more important than giving a hard time to guests, which is a hotel industry reality understood only via counter intuition.
Some stains are stubborn and hard to remove as are some conditions which happen to rubber and plastic blinds which no amount of rubbing or scrubbing will go but still the guests cannot or will not understand these grievances the hard working staff goes through while the guests are yet on the way to the resort. Unfortunate situations like these are just not explainable to the guests although they will never complain. However what is at stake is the value of the brand name of the hotel or whatever which gets affected by things like this.
By nature, resort departments seldom try to take on more responsibilities on itself than it already has, which is a recipe for turf war such as between maintenance and housekeeping on who should do what for instance. However these turf wars shall not be a reason for the guests to see things like stained or cracked blinds because the guests will not understand how this attention to detail thing did not work for their room they have already booked and payed months in advance (sometimes).
They in this case means the so called “Honourable” sleaze balls of our parliament who undoubtedly are the most selfish thoughtless and spineless creatures of our country. Forgive the harsh words but where there are not sufficient words to express the indignation of the common people at the corrupt politicians who run the country, a sufficiently strong language shall be used to wake others from the deep slumber of complacency. These are the same members of parliament who just a couple of years back revised their salary up from 18000 to 62500 and yet they did not include a provision for deducting a single laari even if they fail to show up to work for the entire duration of their office. This is perhaps a world class example of corrupt and incompetent and selfish majlis which is not like any other in the world. Of course this is not to paint all the MPs in the same brush but the recently leaked phone calls between the majlis members shows how their sweet talk at the election campaign and their lifestyles do not match. The very reason why they raised their salary upward at that time was given as a way to dissuade them (MPs) from taking loans or bribes from rich businessmen and the public were asked not to make much of an issue out of that. However now that their salaries are fatter, responsibilities are thinner and are fully involved in works beyond their mandate it comes as a shock to the nation to see how their trust are reviled by these chameleons.
Right is an image of a job ad from Vilamendhoo recently published in Haveeru. The picture illustrates the problem of wages and salaries in resorts which seems more geared to keep the salaries near the bottom line rather than giving any consideration to the qualifications and skills or demands required of a job in relation to pay. For example there is no difference in being a palm tree climber and a labourer in most resorts however some resorts do not see it that way. Just below the list under the position of labourer comes Maintenance Administrator which surprisingly has the same pay level (3000rf?) albeit the word administrator which signifies some sort of authority or an administrative function. Kitchen and laundry technician is also another surprise entry as the skills required in general of being a technician in these areas are a lot together with experience. Most resorts now has full range of modern equipments in kitchen and laundry which uses, gas, electric, microwave, steam as well as solid-state electronics in the case of induction heating etc. For a technician to require to have working knowledge of all these areas and yet gets the same wage of a labourer is a little beyond reason and common sense.
Another puffed up name in the list is Duty Engineer who gets the same salary as a labourer but would generally be the person keeping a watch on the most expensive hardwares found in a resort. Referred as the”Duty engineer or “duty boy” the work of watching over engines and generators involve taking readings (if the plants are not automated) and feeding the machines with oil, water and changing their filters etc. These are all skilled works which cannot be equated with being a labourer or a sweeper. The reason why some resorts equate these positions in pay may be to bring cheap foreign labour on the pretext of unavailability of local talent which is good business practice but which does not help the local economy which is suffering from double digit unemployment.
Now that our country is going through a a “real” political problem, a few comments which can be said about the issue are in order:
Maldives Resort Workers 